Then in the midst of a tight game, he saw his point driven home only a few feet in front of him. He saw Cuttino Mobley whistled for a phantom touch on Kobe Bryant beyond the 3-point arc at the end of the third quarter, turning a seven-point lead into 10 points when Bryant hit all three freebies.

For the night, Bryant made all the plays, sure. He also took 17 free throws, making 16 of them. Van Gundy saw nothing wrong with that on this night. "You're going to have certain things you'd like to see, but if you're us right now, you can't just whine your way to a win." Van Gundy said. "From what I saw, he earned his way to the line."

The third-quarter call wasn't a difference maker by any stretch. But it was exactly the kind of thing for which Van Gundy said Phil Jackson was fishing. And it was exactly the thing about which Van Gundy could not help but rant.

He tossed verbal chum into the playoff waters. He proved that he and Jackson are anything but. Chums, that is.

And Van Gundy was right.

The Rockets' hopes rest with getting more of what they saw in the first half Monday night than what they experienced at the critical moments.

One day earlier, Jackson complained about officiating. Talking about the Rockets' deliberate, half-court style and penchant for aggressive defense, which resulted in a tough 72-71 Game 1 Lakers win, Jackson questioned the league's mindset for allowing "mud wrestling."

Sure, these coaches have a history between them, not much of it cordial. They had exactly these kind of grind-it-out wars when Jackson led the Bulls and Van Gundy coached for the Knicks.

Van Gundy once called Jackson "Big Chief Triangle" and there were other tensions between them in 1999, when Jackson interviewed for a Knicks job that Van Gundy still had -- and ultimately kept, after taking those Knicks to the NBA Finals.

But do not think for a second that Van Gundy's two-minute rant of a rebuttal had as much to do with personal tensions as coaching.

This series is on the line with the Rockets down 2-0. This was Van Gundy's counterattack to the shot Jackson fired across the league's bow one day earlier. It was his ebb, to Jackson's flow.

The uncut version:

"I don't even have to look at the calendar to know that it's spring coming on summer, with Phil complaining about the officiating," Van Gundy said. "It happens like a rite of passage every spring. And it's interesting. His team shoots more free throws (than opponents), I'm going to guess probably 80 percent in his career. But it's those ... Lakers always getting screwed.

"And I'm really surprised at some of you guys that are probing journalists. If he was a fisherman, he'd have you guys mounted on his wall. He throws the bait out there and then you guys scurry over there and throw your mouths on there, so he can hook you with this whole idea of physical play, Eastern Conference, Jeff Van Gundy mentality.

"Yeah, really. Shaq is a finesse player compared to Yao. And Karl Malone and Kelvin Cato, who's more physical? And you have the Patron Saint, Rick Fox, who never touches anybody. And then you've got Bryant who is bigger and stronger than Mobley. You've got a guy nicknamed `Glove' for a reason. And then you've got the flopper, Fisher, bumping and grinding. So who's the more physical team?

"If you guys would probe a little bit, we're the ones trying to run a little bit. We're the one who scored more than 100 points when we played in the regular season. The only physical team in this series is them.

"Basically, what he's trying to say in his own way is, `You have no right to compete against us. The fans and the media and TV want the Lakers in the Finals, and I expect the league to accommodate us.'

"We were thankful that they sent three men of integrity to referee the game (Saturday), and now we will see who the league sends in here tonight. When Phil asks the league to jump, we'll see how high they jump. And that's all I've got to say."

Van Gundy then walked away. And for one half, the Rockets got exactly the kind of game they desired.

Yao was aggressive, and officials Bernie Fryer, Joe DeRosa and Bennie Adams hardly gave O'Neal superstar treatment. While Yao carried the way in the first half, O'Neal was in foul trouble.

It could not have worked out better. Temporarily.

Now facing the most desperate of times, Van Gundy could not have been more right, prophetic perhaps. The Rockets cannot fall into Jackson's preferred style, either by their own undoing or the officiating.

If it's spring, Van Gundy must be needing referees that'll let them play.